You remember how we just mentioned that Google introduced the NFC-based Android Beam? Well Shazam has taken notice and is ready to implement the technology into its app. In the newest version of the Shazam app, it will utilize Android Beam— allowing users to share music, coupons and tour dates. The feature works in a straightforward way too: two Android users will be able to hold their phones back-to-back in order to share music, offers they’ve received from advertisers, and even info on tour dates for favorite bands and more. While Android Beam has yet to be live on Android devices, there is much optimism and excitement for the new feature as we will see the feature introduced sooner than later.

Shazam also took this opportunity to highlight it will feature faster tagging. How fast, you ask? Well Shazam “says that songs and TV ads will be able to be identified in a fraction of the time it previously took, even as little as one second”. As the Android OS continues to evolve, so does the apps on the platform. Are you all excited for the evolution of Shazam yet?

More details have surfaced about HTC’s flagship device, the Endeavor, which is expected to be announced at MWC this year. It’s already been reported that it will be running Android 4.0, adorn a 4.7″ 720p screen, an 8 MP rear facing camera and a 1.3 MP front facing camera, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and tout 1GB of RAM. A Tegra 3 based 1.5GHz quad-core processor is reported to be the brains of the device.

Now we have some more insight into what the Endeavor will bring, including some confirmations and details of the aforementioned specs. There’s been quite a few details uncovered, but here are what I believe are the most important:

The phone will be Beats branded including software, device branding and will include Beats headphones in the box

Like the Galaxy Nexus, the Endeavor will ship with a 5-pogo-pin connector for use with a speaker dock

No MicroSD slot, and will be using MicroSIM technology

The quad-core Tegra processor has been confirmed as an nVidia AP33 1.5GHz/XMM6260

The screen will be of SuperLCD variety — no OLED

Seems to me that this phone might even make me swallow an early upgrade fee and retire my Galaxy SII for now. We’ll have to see as more details surface. Hit the source for details in their entirety.

It’s here! The DROID Bionic updateversion 5.9.902 that we told you about a few days ago is currently rolling out to users everywhere. This update is full of bug fixes, including improved battery life and data connectivity. It should also keep those pesky lockups at bay. Check out the source link below for the full changelog.

If you haven’t received a notification on your Bionic about this update, you can check for it manually in your phone by hitting Menu-> Settings-> About Phone-> System update. Let us know in the comments if you notice any improvements after the update.

So you own a sweet MOTO DROID RAZR/RAZR MAXX, DROID Bionic or other premium device, but are still aching for that ICS update? Well we know it’s on its way, but as of this time, there’s no estimated release date from MOTO at this time. Owners of the devices previously presumed it was because of customizing the (MOTO)BLUR skin on top of Android 4.0. However, the software development isn’t the hassle— it’s actually the hardware that’s causing a bit of a hassle and prolonging the eventual rollout of the update to the handful of MOTO devices. Christy Wyatt, Senior VP and general manager of Motorola’s Enterprise Business Unit makes that point clear:

“When Google does a release of the software … they do a version of the software for whatever phone they just shipped. The rest of the ecosystem doesn’t see it until you see it. Hardware is by far the long pole in the tent, with multiple chipsets and multiple radio bands for multiple countries. It’s a big machine to churn. I would have to know that every single operator I have is going to want to upgrade every single product, and sometimes they’ll want to control the timing … it’s just not easy to make that blanket statement.”

Motorola completely feels for its customers and wants to push out timely updates as quickly as possible, but it’s not at this point because of various factors involving hardware and mobile carriers. The problem is pretty straightforward: Motorola finds out if the hardware is compatible, throws on the custom skins like (MOTO)BLUR and waits to finally get re-certified by every individual carrier– which is a difficult process by itself. As tedious as the process is upgrading devices to Android 4.0, it’s a necessary one in order to ensure all aspects of the devices are running smoothly and without issues.

All is not doom and gloom though folks. While highlighting the difficulties in updating the software for each phone, Wyatt added some understandable enthusiasm for Android 4.0 because it gives developers a single UI for phones and tablets:

“That has to be one of the promises of Ice Cream Sandwich,” she said. “By bringing these UIs together, you solve the experience gaps and the ecosystem gaps between [phones and tablets].”

Our sentiments exactly Christy. While additional tweaks such as the WebTop (laptop) mode needs to be worked out as well, expect MOTO and its great group of developers/engineers to figure out everything sooner than later.

Verizon has officially announced the 5.9.902 update for the Motorola DROID Bionic. There have been rumors for a few weeks on just what Verizon had up its sleeve for the Motorola handset. There is some good stuff packed into this update, including more stability. The black screen lockups, camera lockups, idle resets and multimedia dock lockups should be a thing of the past. The update will add Amazon MP3 and the VCAST App Store. Also on the list of improvements are data, HDMI and Bluetooth connectivity. The battery life should also be enhanced. Unfortunately, this update won’t be bringing Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to the Bionic. We’ll let you know here at Talk Android when that update happens.

The update is 57.6MB in size, and is available if you’re part of the Motorola Feedback Network and have registered your DROID. If not, you should see the update go OTA in the next few weeks.

On February 1st, a couple of tweets from the developers of Swype confirmed that we will have an update to their popular keyboard within the next few days. Responding to another Tweet, the Swype team promised that the update would be for devices running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, plus some mysterious “goodies”. There has been an unofficial hacked version of Swype for more than a month, so we’re looking forward to having the real deal updated. If you’d like to be a beta tester, be sure to register for the update at forum.swype.com. Otherwise, wait for the OTA update.

“Tomorrow after 12 Central/10 Pacific, you will receive a pop-up message on your phone that will mark the beginning of the software pre-release test.”

Of course we speculate it’s likely the 4.5.141 software update bringing Gingerbread 2.3.5 and a few other enhancements. But part of me wants to reaaaaaaaaaally hope and believe it’s a surprise sweeter treat. Stay tuned with Talk Android for any further updates on the rollout of this mysterious update for Atrix 4G soak test participants.